New local wage tax...?

[4evermom]

My community just started a 1% wage tax. I found out by receiving a letter from a tax administrative company asking for all sorts of personal info including my SS#. I'm also supposed to write WHY I don't have an income if I don't have one (home maker, unemployed, etc) I gotta say I thought it was a scam, lol. But it seems to be the real deal. Neither dh nor I currently have any earned income (he's on workers comp), yet this letter/form is stating that it is required that we fill this out. Anybody have any ideas about my rights on this? It seems to me if I don't have an earned income, this paper work and what they think of me is not my problem though perhaps I should send a simple signed statement that I do not have an earned income at this time.

[2cutiekitties]

yikes that is way too govermenty for my taste!

[4evermom]

I understand them WANTING this info, lol. I just don't think I'm legally required to provide anything if I don't have an earned income. And the wording on the form says that ALL residents must fill this out and return it (and ds didn't even get one ). They give a phone number so I can ask them questions about my rights, as if they are an unbiased source...

[Auntie Sapphire]

Is the form from your community's government? Or is it from a private company? I would ask the appropriate government office for clarification.

[jeminijad]

They have to know a good number of people aren't going to fill that out and send it in. Some people don't even open mail. That is why the census goes door to door!

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by Auntie Sapphire

Is the form from your community's government? Or is it from a private company? I would ask the appropriate government office for clarification.

It's a private company. The local government has great difficulties in the communication field. I already tried finding info on their website. All I found out by googling was an article from a December newspaper saying they were going to start this tax. Of course, we don't get that paper so had no idea.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by jeminijad

They have to know a good number of people aren't going to fill that out and send it in. Some people don't even open mail. That is why the census goes door to door!

Yeah, i almost dropped it right in the recycle. It said "Important Tax Information" but it's not a company I've ever done business with so I thought it was a scam, at first. We also got one for someone who never lived here. To ignore or to write a statement that only says I don't receive and earned income...

One time we got a letter from the borough saying my mom had to pay taxes for having renters and when we told them she didn't have renters and everyone in the household is related they wanted me to send them a notarized letter saying I was her daughter. Umm, they can look it up in public records. I got married here. I'm not going to spend $5 on a notary unnecessarily. There is very much a vibe that everyone thinks everyone is trying to get away with something, no innocent until proven guilty.

[MeepyCat]

4evermom, why is it that you think this letter is not a scam?

It reeks of scam to me. Mail phishing has gone out of style, and violates federal law, but it does still happen on occasion. And if it's a scam, of COURSE it comes with scary and official-sounding language about how you must fill it out and send it back. (Where are you supposed to send it back to, out of curiousity?)

You should never - ever, ever - give out your SSN to someone who contacts YOU and asks for it. If you need to give it for identification purposes, it should be YOU contacting THEM, and THEM should be a known and verifiable entity. Like, if you call the number on your bank statement to ask for customer service, they may request your SSN as an identifier. On the other hand, if someone claiming to be from the bank calls you and asks for it, tell them you'll have to call them back at the number on your bill, or the phone number listed in the phone book for your local branch.

I wouldn't send anything in response to this letter. I might call up the local government that's hypothetically enforcing this tax and ask them about it - betcha anything they've never heard of this. The logical way to collect a wage tax is by requiring employers to remit the tax directly, the same way they do with payroll taxes.

[Poddi]

I agree it sounds like a scam. I've never heard of such a tax, and for the information to be collected by mail seems highly ineffective. Ask people you know if they received such letter. If it's common knowledge there's going to be a new tax, I'm sure it'll be a big deal in the news and everybody would know it. Our local government is going to change the sales tax and everybody knew that a year before it's effective.

You should report that to the fraud department or something.

[leavemealone]

I wouldn't fill it out and I would call the local govt office and check with them. I have lived in areas with local tax and have had to fill out forms when starting a new job but not when I wasn't working. It should be able to be determined that you don't have taxable income by the state records. I wouldn't think you'd need tot tell them via this form.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by MeepyCat

4evermom, why is it that you think this letter is not a scam?

Because the company has a nice website and the return address isn't a PO box?

My borough is very small and inept. I can see that they would just tell some tax company that they were in charge... But no, even if I was 100% sure this was real, I wouldn't write my SS# down for them.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by sandcastle

I wouldn't fill it out and I would call the local govt office and check with them. I have lived in areas with local tax and have had to fill out forms when starting a new job but not when I wasn't working. It should be able to be determined that you don't have taxable income by the state records. I wouldn't think you'd need tot tell them via this form.

Yeah, its a little confusing because it's a new tax and most residents don't work in this borough. So workplaces wouldn't necessarily have all the info on the local taxes of each place where each employee resides.

[MeepyCat]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

Because the company has a nice website and the return address isn't a PO box?
.

Have you run a whois lookup on the website and searched Google maps for the address?

Even then, I wouldn't answer the letter.

ETA: the usual way to handle these problems is via year-end tax returns.

[Poddi]

Oh I just noticed you're in Philly. I guess it's real then. I've heard they have local wage tax, and it's not exactly new either. Though it might be new to your particular community/suburb.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by Poddi

Oh I just noticed you're in Philly. I guess it's real then. I've heard they have local wage tax, and it's not exactly new either. Though it might be new to your particular community/suburb.

Yes, lots of areas have local wage tax. W2s have a spot for federal, state, and local tax but the local is blank if you live someplace without them. When I worked in the city but lived outside (where there wasn't a tax), there was a withholding that the city kept. If you work in a place with local tax but live someplace without one as I was, the city keeps all the local tax withholding. But if you live someplace with it's own tax, I think that place gets sent the tax money instead (so you don't pay to both work and residence communities). My community just outside it is only a couple miles in diameter. It's so small, they seem to have just put it in the hands of a private tax agency. We're supposed to pay quarterly. Hopefully we can get work (when dh goes back to work) withhold the 1% and send it direct. But they might not want to for just one employee. I'm glad we don't have earned income while this gets off the ground and the kinks get worked out. What a PIA for such a small amount of money (in our case because our income is so low). But it will be good to have property tax lowered (supposedly the reason for the earned income tax). It's much higher in our community than the neighboring ones...

[leavemealone]

Wouldn't the state be able to tell who lived where based on the address? Although, we have problems with DH's paycheck b/c whoever set up has him paying local tax even though we live in a township (no local tax). It can be difficult b/c some address say the city, but they are actually part of a township. That may be the problem with DH's company, but he says he's told them repeatedly he shouldn't be paying that tax. It's only about $9 per pay, but still - we shouldn't be paying it. We also have a school district tax in some locations where I live and we have to provide what school district we live in for tax reasons. For us, that paperwork is in the new employee package along with with holdings and other tax forms.

[maryeliz]

I live in a city with a local tax and it is all handled at work. Different taxes are taken out depending upon where people live. I have never heard of this sort of situation where you are contacted at home and asked to provide information. I would be very wary of providing this company with your SS#. And if you do not have earned income you don't own your community any money, so I don't see how you could get in any trouble for not responding.